INTERVIEW | JOHN CORCORAN
Above: Team in Hammersmith tunnels, on London Tideway
As an example, Charles Allen spoke
at the 2024 BTS Harding Lecture about one section of the secondary lining carried out on Tideway tunnel - “that I had worked on (thanks for the reminder Charles!). “We cast the secondary lining directly
up to the primary shotcrete lining and it caused cracking in the tunnel crown. During questions, Dave Hindle said the exact the same thing had happened to him many years previously. So we need a mechanism where we can continue to learn from each other.” A few years later, Ivor Thomas was
about to become Chair and, John says, “he encouraged me (as only Ivor can) to rejoin
the Committee; but it was never in my head to become Chair. “I then became heavily involved in the ‘BTS
at 50’ book; I did a lot of the research and interviewing. One particularly memorable one involved a visit to the brother of Harry Lyle, to interview two old miners, Jock Lyle and John Sheridan, talking about their careers in tunnelling. Please read the book (page 100) if you want to know more. “I think Ken Spiby has done an amazing
job keeping that all together. The book is now out, and we are receiving wonderful feedback on the quality and content. If anyone has not yet purchased a copy, it is still available (go onto the BTS website
to order), but get in quick, as only a fixed number were printed. “I am helping John Scholey with
organising the BTS Annual Dinner, which again I really enjoy, particularly the food and wine sampling session The Brewery runs, to enable the menu to be selected. I can assure our members that I personally work extremely hard at that session, insisting for example on sampling every one of the wines on offer. I think, overall, the British Tunnelling Society is a fantastic organisation. It is not too bureaucratic, and it does a lot of good. “I am keen to get feedback about what
our members want from the Committee, and how can we best support them? I know quite a lot of people in the tunnelling industry, and it is good that I can draw upon them if I need any help or they can help to promote BTS events and training courses. “And, I’d like to encourage as many people
as possible to put themselves forward to join the Committee.” A call for nominations goes out March/
April each year. “The Committee should truly represent
Above: Charity night singing contribution in Belfast 36 | April 2025
the range of tasks that we do in the tunnelling industry, to reflect the diversity of skills required to construct tunnels. I’m not sure that the workforce themselves get represented very well. If there is anyone out there that would like to put themselves forward, I’d be really keen on that.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43
